NHL
SpreadTotalMoneyPIT+1.5U 6.5-102CBJ-1.5O 6.5-118
NHL · Friday 9 October
Penguins at Blue Jackets Final Score: Blue Jackets Win 3-2 in a Shootout
Final: Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 2 in a shootout, Friday 9 October at Nationwide Arena.
Our call lost. Before the game this page said: “Bet the Penguins at +105.” The Penguins moneyline lost: Pittsburgh lost 3-2 in a shootout.
What decided it
The teams were level at 2-2 after overtime, and Columbus won the shootout. Columbus had 47 shots to Pittsburgh’s 22, and scored 0 power-play goals to 0.
| Team | P1 | P2 | P3 | OT | SO | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
The last DraftKings moneyline ESPN holds for the game is Pittsburgh Penguins -108, Columbus Blue Jackets -112, with a total of 6.5. Columbus, the favourite, won. The 5 goals went under the total.
What comes next
Pittsburgh plays next against the Utah Mammoth on Thursday 29 October. Columbus plays next at the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday 29 October.
The prediction, as published before the game
Everything below is the page as it stood before the game, kept unchanged as the record. It was titled “Penguins at Blue Jackets Best Pick, Prediction and Odds”.
Bet the Penguins at +105. The edge clears our threshold by a tenth of a point.
The Columbus Blue Jackets are -125 and the Pittsburgh Penguins +105 at DraftKings, which is a 46.8% chance for Pittsburgh once the margin is removed. Our number gives the Penguins 51.9%. The gap is 5.1 points. A side is a bet when the gap is 5 points or more, so the Penguins are a bet.
When this page first went up on 29 September, no line had been posted, and the call was the Penguins at +117 or longer or the Blue Jackets at +129 or longer. That page also said a slightly shorter price could clear the threshold once the margin came out. That is what happened: +105 is shorter than +117, and with the margin removed it clears. The side is the same as that page’s Penguins half.
How the number is built
One clause: our home win chance is the average of the home team’s 2025-26 home win rate and the visitor’s 2025-26 road loss rate, where a win in overtime or a shootout counts as a win. Games at a neutral site are left out of both.
The Blue Jackets went 20-13-8 at home, meaning 20 wins, 13 regulation losses and 8 losses after regulation. That is a 48.8% home win rate over 41 games. The Penguins went 21-12-7 on the road and lost 19 of 40, a 47.5% road loss rate. The average is 48.1% for Columbus, which leaves 51.9% for Pittsburgh.
The Penguins’ 40 road games leave out one. On 14 November 2025 they lost 2-1 in overtime to the Nashville Predators in Stockholm, a game ESPN lists at a neutral site with Nashville as the home side. Counted as a road game, it would put our Pittsburgh figure at 51.2% and the gap at 4.4, a pass. The whole bet rests on leaving that one game out, and the method leaves it out.
The margin is the few points a book builds into both prices so that they add to more than 100%. At -125 and +105 the two prices add to 104.3%. Removed, it leaves the Blue Jackets at 53.2% and the Penguins at 46.8%.
It is a new season. Rosters change over a summer, and this page has no measure of what changed. Last season is the only evidence in hand: 41 home games for the Blue Jackets and 40 road games for the Penguins. No game from 2026-27 is in these figures. The market has Columbus as the favourite at home, and nothing here can say whether the summer earned that.
The Blue Jackets at home, the Penguins on the road
The Blue Jackets at home scored 3.29 goals a game and allowed 3.07. The Penguins on the road scored 3.55 and allowed 3.08. Both were ahead on goals in these games, Pittsburgh by 0.47 a game and Columbus by 0.22.
Overtime runs through both records. Columbus lost 8 home games after regulation, and 24 of its 82 games went past 60 minutes. Pittsburgh lost 16 games after regulation across the season, and 23 of its games went past 60 minutes.
Across the full season the Blue Jackets finished 40-30-12 with 92 points. Their goals for and against came out level over 82 games, 3.09 a game each. They played no playoff games. The Penguins finished 41-25-16 with 98 points and outscored opponents by 25 goals, 0.30 a game. They lost their one playoff series 4-2 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
The teams met four times in 2025-26, and every game went past regulation. Columbus won 5-4 in a shootout in Pittsburgh on 25 October. Pittsburgh won 4-3 in overtime in Columbus on 28 November and 5-4 in overtime there on 4 January. Columbus won 4-3 in a shootout in Pittsburgh on 17 January. Four games prove nothing, and the method does not use them.
Pick: Penguins +105
Bet the Penguins on the moneyline at +105. The gap is 5.1 points against a 5-point threshold.
The line opened at Blue Jackets -125 and Penguins +105 and had not moved when it was read. Read on 8 October 2026 at 16:36 UTC, DraftKings via ESPN, Columbus was -125 and Pittsburgh +105.
What changes it
Almost any move toward Pittsburgh. Against Columbus at -125, the Penguins at +100 would be a 4.5-point gap and a pass. At +114 or longer the Penguins are a bet whatever Columbus is priced at. The Blue Jackets would need +133 or longer, which is not where this line is.
A price is only one of the unknowns. This page states nothing about either lineup on 9 October. Check the lineups before you bet.
The total and the puck line
The total is 6.5, over -105 and under -115. The Blue Jackets’ games went over 6.5 in 37 of 82 and the Penguins’ in 47 of 82. Columbus’s home games averaged 6.36 goals, Pittsburgh’s road games 6.63.
The two over rates, 45.1% and 57.3%, average 51.2%. The over at -105 is priced at 48.9% with the margin removed. The gap is 2.3 points, short of 5. Pass on the total.
The puck line has the Blue Jackets -1.5 at +190 and the Penguins +1.5 at -230. Columbus won by two goals or more in 22 of 82 games. Pittsburgh lost by two or more in 18 of 82. Averaged, Columbus -1.5 lands 24.4% of the time against 33.1% priced, so the Penguins +1.5 land 75.6% against 66.9% priced. That is a gap of 8.7 points. Our method bets the moneyline only, so on the puck line a gap this size is a lean: the Penguins +1.5, at a price of -230. The bet stays the moneyline at +105.
Penguins at Blue Jackets, Friday 9 October, 7:00 PM ET, Nationwide Arena. Prices: DraftKings via ESPN, read 8 October 2026, 16:36 UTC. Results: ESPN, read 8 October 2026. Nothing here states who is available.